Miami beat Florida International 35-0 Saturday night in a game marred by a wild brawl in the third quarter that had fists flying, helmets swinging and even crutches being used as weapons.

In all, 13 players were ejected -- eight from FIU, five from Miami, and each will likely face a minimum of one-game suspensions.

"It was something that neither of us wanted," Miami coach Larry Coker said.

Kyle Wright had three touchdown passes for the Hurricanes (4-2), while Lance Leggett had two TD catches -- one from Wright, the other from Kirby Freeman.

It was the first meeting between the programs, whose campuses are 9 miles apart and have rosters almost entirely filled with players from Miami-Dade and Broward counties, the two largest in South Florida. Tensions were high throughout the night, with several occurrences of heated words being exchanged after plays ended.

But those verbal jousts were nothing compared with what happened with 9:00 remaining in the third.

Oct. 14, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

MIAMI -- South Florida's newest rivalry has already overheated.

Miami beat Florida International 35-0 Saturday night in a game marred by a wild brawl in the third quarter that had fists flying, helmets swinging and even crutches being used as weapons.

In all, 13 players were ejected -- eight from FIU, five from Miami, and each will likely face a minimum of one-game suspensions.

"It was something that neither of us wanted," Miami coach Larry Coker said.

Kyle Wright had three touchdown passes for the Hurricanes (4-2), while Lance Leggett had two TD catches -- one from Wright, the other from Kirby Freeman.

It was the first meeting between the programs, whose campuses are 9 miles apart and have rosters almost entirely filled with players from Miami-Dade and Broward counties, the two largest in South Florida. Tensions were high throughout the night, with several occurrences of heated words being exchanged after plays ended.

But those verbal jousts were nothing compared with what happened with 9:00 remaining in the third.
Advertisement
&lt;A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/347f/3/0/%2a/t%3B53367013%3B0-0%3B0%3B13544436%3B4307-300/250%3B18709377/18727272/1%3Bu%3Dsteelmen7863%3B%7Efdr%3D39259595%3B0-0%3B0%3B8049032%3B4307-300/250%3B18720054/18737949/1%3Bu%3Dsteelmen7863%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://www.toyota.com/tacoma/"&gt;&lt;IMG SRC="http://m1.2mdn.net/1030813/06TA_HELMETS_BACKUP_300x250.jpg" BORDER=0&gt;&lt;/A&gt;

"It was a great game," FIU quarterback Josh Padrick said, "until 9 minutes left in the third quarter."

James Bryant caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Wright, then drew a 15-yard flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. After making the catch, he appeared to point at the FIU (0-7) bench, then took a theatrical bow toward the stands.

Moments later, Jon Peattie kicked the extra point for a 14-0 lead and the melee began; replays showed an FIU player crashing into Miami holder Matt Perrelli as the first of many blows. Pushing quickly turned into punches, both sidelines emptied and several fights broke out.

"I have no idea how it happened," FIU coach Don Strock said.

The brawl lasted about five minutes, and it took officials several more minutes to sort out the penalties. More than two dozen uniformed police officers came onto the field, trying to end the fights, and at least one incident of fan fighting broke out in the Orange Bowl stands.

"Shocked, anger, both, all the emotions," Coker said when asked about watching the melee. "College football doesn't need it, FIU doesn't need it and certainly we don't need it. It's just not the way we wanted this game to unfold."

Police officers, including some wearing helmets, surrounded the field for the remainder of the game.

Police did not immediately announce if any fans were arrested. A holding area was set up at the Orange Bowl to detain anyone ejected and Miami police had between 80 and 100 officers at the game, officials said.

Shortly after the game, new FIU athletic director Pete Garcia -- who left his associate AD post at Miami this past week to join the Golden Panthers -- issued an apology on behalf of the university and its president, Mitch Madique.

Garcia said he'll evaluate what happened before deciding whether to continue the rivalry.

"They were gracious enough to grant us this game," Garcia said, "and this is how we repay them."

Wright was 14-of-22 for 117 yards for Miami. Leggett (seven catches) and Sam Shields (five) each had 77 receiving yards for the Hurricanes.

Chris Zellner also had a touchdown catch for Miami, and Derron Thomas' 11-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter capped the scoring. Miami's defense held FIU to 114 yards in recording its first shutout since Sept. 18, 2004.

Julian Reams had 21 carries for 45 yards to lead FIU. Padrick completed 12 of 25 passes for 86 yards for the Golden Panthers, who are scheduled to play Miami again next Oct. 6.

I hear Marvin Lewis has a list of all their phone numbers for future reference.

__________________"We're not going to turn our backs on him," Ward said. "We're going to treat him like our brother. We're going to accept him back and be very supportive of him and help him get through this. In this locker room, he's still our quarterback."

Miami Univ. Officials came out today with what equates to a slap on the wrist for most of the street criminals involved in Saturday's melee against FIU.

One game suspensions for the majority of the players(they'll miss playing against that college football power Duke University in their next game)and only an indefinate suspension for the thug who was throwing his helmet around......who obviously deserves to be thrown off the team and expelled from the school.